Privacy Statement for Nest Products and Services

At Nest, we take your privacy seriously.

This Privacy Statement for Nest Products and Services (“Privacy Statement”) describes information that Nest Labs, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, “Nest”) collect, use, share, and store, including personal information (i.e., information that personally identifies you, such as your name, email address or billing information, or other data that can be reasonably used to infer this information).

This document focuses on information related to the operation of Nest products and services, including the Nest Learning Thermostat™, Nest Protect: Smoke + Carbon Monoxide™ Alarm, Nest Cam™, Dropcam™, Works with Nest™, MyEnergy™, and other products from Nest (collectively, “Nest Products”). In this Privacy Statement, the expression “Nest Products” also includes our Web Apps, Mobile Apps, and Subscription Services as defined in our Terms of Service.

Be transparent about the different types of information we collect and how we use them.

Ask your permission before sharing your personal information with third parties for purposes other than to provide Nest’s Products, and to do so only when we think they will provide you with a welcome additional service.

By using Nest Products, you agree to allow us to collect and process information as described below.

What information does the Nest Learning Thermostat collect?

The Nest Learning Thermostat collects:

Information input during setup

Environmental data from the Nest Learning Thermostat’s sensors

Direct temperature adjustments to the device

Heating and cooling usage information

Technical information from the device

Information input during setup: When you install the Nest Learning Thermostat, you’ll be asked several questions in order to help us create an initial program of temperature settings that will keep you comfortable. For example, we’ll ask questions like whether your thermostat is located in a home or a business. We’ll also ask for your postal or ZIP code so that Nest can for example retrieve weather information for your neighborhood. In addition, the Nest Learning Thermostat pulls information directly from your heating and cooling (HVAC) system to learn its capabilities – such as if it has heating and cooling or is a heating-only system. Answering these questions helps us to set up an initial program that will keep you comfortable.

Environmental data from the Nest Learning Thermostat’s sensors: We collect data from several sensors built into the Nest Learning Thermostat. These sensors collect data such as current temperature, humidity and ambient light in the room. They can also sense whether something in the room is moving. This helps your Nest Learning Thermostat keep you comfortable when you are at home and save energy when you are away. For example, if the Nest Learning Thermostat senses a light being switched on or that you’ve entered the room after an extended period of time, it can adjust the setting to a preferred temperature, based on an assumption that you’ve just woken up or returned home. Similarly, if the light goes off or no one is moving in the room, the Nest Learning Thermostat may turn the temperature down sometimes to save energy.

Direct temperature adjustments to the device: If you change the temperature on Nest, it records and feeds that information to the Nest Learning Thermostat algorithms to learn your desired comfort level in different situations.

Heating and cooling usage information: Every time your system turns on and off, Nest records the time and duration during which your system was on in order to offer you features such as usage history.

Technical information from the device: In order to improve your experience over time and help troubleshoot any problem you may encounter with the Nest Learning Thermostat, we record your Nest Learning Thermostat model and serial number, software version, and technical information such as battery charge level.

What information does Nest Protect collect?

Nest Protect collects:

Information input during setup

Environmental data from the Nest Protect’s sensors

Technical information from the device

Information input during setup: When you install Nest Protect, you’ll be asked for information like your postal or ZIP code as well as where in your home you’re installing it. This information helps to customize your experience by, for example, enabling Nest Protect to inform you where an event is occurring, or to better schedule features like Sound Check to run during certain hours of the day.

Environmental data from Nest Protect’s sensors: We collect data from several sensors built into Nest Protect. These sensors collect data such as smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) levels, current temperature, humidity and ambient light in the room. They can also sense whether something in the room is moving. By recording this information, Nest Protect can do things like detect smoke and CO in your home, and give you alarms and warnings. For example, if Nest Protect sees that smoke or CO levels are rising, it will give you a Heads Up before the danger reaches emergency alarm levels and tell you what the danger is.

Nest Protect 2nd generation also contains a microphone, which enables Nest Protect to deliver certain enhanced features. Specifically, Nest Protect emits sound samples during Safety Checkup or Sound Check that the microphone will capture to verify that the speaker and horn are functioning.

Technical information from the device: In order to improve your experience over time and help troubleshoot any problem you may encounter with Nest Protect, we record your Nest Protect model and serial number, software version, and technical information such as sensor status, Wi-Fi connectivity, and battery charge level.

Information input during setup: When you install Nest Cam, you’ll be asked for certain basic information like your camera name, camera description, ZIP or postal code, the country where the Nest Cam is located as well as where in your home you’re installing it. This information is used to personalize your experience – for example, to tell you which device is triggering a notification.

Environmental data from the camera’s sensors: We collect data from several sensors built into Nest Cam. These sensors collect data such as device temperature and ambient light in the room. By recording this information, Nest Cam can know, for instance, whether it’s dark and it should turn on night vision.

Video and audio signals and data: When you enable the recording or streaming features of your Nest Cam, we may record and process video and/or audio recordings from the device, subject to your configuration and settings. This may include capturing and emailing to you portions of this data as part of a notification or analyzing the data to identify motion or other events. We may process information from your Nest Cam so that we can send you alerts when something happens. In addition, if you have the recording features enabled, we will capture, process and retain video and audio data recordings from your device for the duration of your recording subscription period (for example, 10 or 30 days) and you will be able to access those recordings using the Services during that time.

Technical information from the device: In order to improve your experience over time and help troubleshoot any problem you may encounter with Nest Cam, we record your Nest Cam model and serial number, software version, and technical information such as Wi-Fi signal strength.

Saved and Shared Content: You may save and may choose to share certain content like video clips, live video streams, images, captions, and comments for other people to access using the Services. We will collect and store information that will allow us to save or share your content as directed by you through the Services.

Data protection and privacy laws in your country may impose certain responsibilities on you and your use of Nest Cam. You (not Nest) are responsible for ensuring that you comply with any applicable laws when you use Nest Cam. For example, you may need to display a notice that alerts visitors to your home that you are using Nest Cam. Note in particular that recording and sharing clips that involve other people may affect their privacy and data protection rights.

What information does MyEnergy collect?

MyEnergy is an optional service offered by Nest with a separate sign-up process. If you create a MyEnergy account, then Nest collects:

Information input during MyEnergy signup

Utility resource consumption (from your utilities)

Information input during signup: When you create a MyEnergy account, we ask you for basic information such as your email address and your home address. We use your home address to identify the utilities that serve your home and to match your individual utility accounts to your home. You can also enter and store the credentials you use to access your utility accounts; you do not have to supply these credentials to create an account, but they are needed to access your utility information. With your permission, we use your email address to send you updates about your utility resource consumption.

Utility resource consumption (from your utilities): If you use MyEnergy to sign into a utility account, we may access, process, and store information from your utility. With your consent, MyEnergy may access different types of information from your utility. For example, MyEnergy may download, analyze, and store your utility bill statements.

MyEnergy data can be combined with other information in your Nest account and can help us to better understand things like your energy usage.

What information is shared among multiple connected Nest Products?

If you have multiple Nest Products interfacing with one another, the products will share certain information with each other, such as data on whether something in the room is moving, temperature data, and the occurrence of smoke or CO alarms. This sharing may occur locally among devices, between Nest Products and your mobile device or application, or on Nest's servers. Understanding whether something in the room is moving can help the products do things like better assess if you are away from home so temperature can be reduced and you can save more energy.

How does my Nest Product or account interact with third parties?

If I use Works with Nest to connect third-party products and services to Nest, will information be shared? When you choose to connect third-party products and services through Works with Nest, you are shown details about any proposed exchange(s) of data between Nest and the third party that is providing the product or service. In some cases, Nest or the third party will instead (or also) ask for permission to control the products that you have connected. Your explicit consent is required to allow any of these exchanges or requests for control and you will be able to revoke it at any time.

Is information shared with or received from third parties, outside of the Works with Nest program? Yes, Nest may receive and process information from third parties, and some of this information may be associated or stored with your Nest account. Nest may also share information with your permission. For example, when you enroll in a rewards program offered through Nest by our partners – such as Rush Hour Rewards – you may be asked for your permission to share certain data between Nest and our partner. Nest requires your explicit consent before sharing information in these circumstances. We may also obtain information from other sources and combine that with the information in your Nest account. For example, in order to offer some of our rewards programs, we might collect certain information (such as which of our partners offers services where you live) to determine eligibility and efficacy of our programs.

Additional information about the limited circumstances in which information from your Nest account may be shared with third parties is described below in the section titled “In what circumstances does Nest share my information?”.

Any Nest data that you choose to share with a third party is governed by that third party’s privacy policy while in that party’s possession.

Any data that Nest receives from third-party products and services will be processed and stored by Nest and will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Statement. This information may be processed in the same ways as any other data that is a part of your Nest account or the Nest logs.

What additional information does Nest collect and store when a user connects a Nest Product to the Internet or creates an account?

To connect your Nest Product to our Services, or to access your Nest Product over the Internet from a computer, a smartphone or a tablet, you will need to connect it to your Wi-Fi network. During setup, the Nest Product will ask for your Wi-Fi network name (SSID) and password to connect to the Internet. It will save this information on the device, along with your IP address, so that you can access it and control it from your computer, smartphone or tablet, and so that it can communicate with Nest servers and download software updates.

Once connected to your Wi-Fi network, your Nest Product regularly sends the data described in this Privacy Statement (excluding your Wi-Fi password) to Nest to provide you with the Services.

Additionally, when you create a Nest account, we collect and store your email address. From that point forward, your email address is used for communications from Nest. Some Nest products – like Nest Cam – may allow you to invite other people such as friends or family to share access to your content. We will ask you for that person's email address and automatically send an email invitation on your behalf. Nest stores this information to send this email, to register your friend if your invitation is accepted, and to track the success of our invitation services.

In addition, Bluetooth-enabled Nest Products (such as Nest Protect 2nd generation and Nest Cam) may broadcast an identifying signal wirelessly. This is used to connect with your Bluetooth-enabled devices (such as a smartphone or tablet) in order to deliver features like easy setup or App Silence

Remember that when you visit our Sites, we collect personal information as described in our separate Privacy Policy for Nest Web Sites. Like most Internet sites, we routinely record log entries (including information such as your IP address) and technical information (such as your browser type and version) when your browser, mobile device or Nest Product contacts our servers.

How does Nest use the information it collects?

We use this information to provide, develop and improve Nest Products and services, including information to make assessments and recommendations about products, safety, or energy use. We may use your contact details to send you this information, or to ask you to participate in surveys about your Nest use.

We may also use this information in an aggregated, non-identified form for research purposes and to help us make sales, marketing, and business decisions. For example, we use aggregated user information about the number of active thermostat users in a particular state to help us decide what energy companies might be good partners, and aggregated smoke and CO alarm data to study emergency alarm rates across our customers.

We may use service providers to perform some of these functions. Those service providers are restricted from sharing your information for any other purpose.

We use industry-standard methods to keep this information safe and secure while it is transmitted over your home network and through the Internet to our servers. Depending on your location and type of data, Nest may process your personal information on servers that are not in your home country.

In what circumstances does Nest share my information?

Under no circumstance do we share personal information for any commercial or marketing purpose unrelated to the delivery of Nest Products and services without asking you first. Period. We do not rent or sell our customer lists.

The following are the limited situations where we may share personal information:

With your explicit consent: We may share personal information when we have your consent. One example of this would be if you sign up for programs offered by our partners (e.g., energy or insurance companies). If you do this, we may share certain information with the partner. This could include things like your enrollment information and the activation status of your device. Similarly, when you connect third-party devices and services to your Nest Products through the Works with Nest program, you are shown information about any proposed exchange of data. Your explicit consent is required to allow these exchanges on your behalf and you can change your mind at any time.

For external processing: We have vendors, service providers, and technicians who help with some of our processing and storage, including helping to answer your questions. They may also assist with monitoring our servers for technical problems. These technicians (as well as Nest employees) can access certain information about you or your account in line with this work but these technicians are not allowed to use this data for non-Nest purposes. We also have strict policies and technical barriers in place to prevent unauthorized employee access to video data.

As part of business transitions: Upon the sale or transfer of the company and/or all or part of its assets, your personal information may be among the items sold or transferred. We will request a purchaser to treat our data under the privacy statement in place at the time of its collection.

For legal reasons: We may provide information to a third party if we believe in good faith that we are required to do so for legal reasons. For example, to respond to legal process, or comply with state and federal laws (or the applicable laws of foreign countries other than the United States).

We may share non-personal information (for example, aggregated or anonymized customer data) publicly and with our partners. For example, we may publish trends about energy use or elevated carbon monoxide levels in the home. This information may also be shared with other users to help them better understand their energy usage compared to others in the Nest community, raise awareness about safety issues, or help us generally improve our system. We may also share non-personal information with our partners, for example, if they are interested in providing demand-response services or other incentive programs. We take steps to keep this non-personal information from being associated with you and we require our partners to do the same.

Your personal information may be collected, processed and stored by Nest or its service providers in the United States and other countries where our servers reside. As a result, your personal information may be subject to legal requirements, including lawful requirements to disclose personal information to government authorities, in those jurisdictions.

If you select an outside party for the purchase, installation, or service of your Nest device and share your personal information, we cannot control the collection, storage or sharing of information collected by that party. For example, if you buy a Nest Learning Thermostat from a retailer, the retailer may collect personal information as part of the transaction. Or the party that installed the device may retain information that you provided to them to assist them in servicing the device if needed. Always check the privacy policies for any company that collects your personal information.

How long does Nest save my personal information and how can I delete it?

Nest generally stores your personal information on Nest’s servers until you delete or edit it, or for as long as you remain a Nest customer in order to provide you with Nest Products.

As described above, some information is processed and stored directly on the Nest device. All personal information is encrypted as it is transmitted to Nest and cannot easily be accessed.

You can delete the information on the Nest device by resetting it to the defaults (using Reset in the Settings menu).

You can access, amend or delete your personal information from Nest’s servers through the controls in your account. Because of the way we maintain certain Services, after your information is deleted, backup copies may linger for some time before they are deleted, and we may retain certain data for a longer period of time if we are required to do so for legal reasons.

We comply with the US-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the US-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use and retention of personal information from European Union member countries and Switzerland. Nest has certified (through its parent) that it adheres to the relevant Safe Harbor Privacy Principles.

Please note that this Privacy Statement may change from time to time. We will provide notice of any changes on the website or by contacting you.